The driver was early so he had to wait while i finished up packing..When i arrived downstairs with my two suitcases (one big and one small), and like 500 small bags, my two chinese coworkers looked at each other, looked at my English coworker, then at me, and said, "All this is going?" I said 'yup, i didn't feel like deciding exactly which outfit to bring.' Then they said, 'you know we have 2 more females with us?' Well, let's make my luggage fit, as if not, it's going to be a while before i am ready to go...lol...We decided to leave my boss's car seat in my room...to make room.....
We were finally off on our way to DanDong, my chinese adventure for the weekend... And was I excited...we were going to go hiking, see the North Korean border, the soldiers patroling the borders...ah....sweet history.........or so I thought.....
The drive was quite a pleasant one, through the countryside, old Chinese towns and farmlands...We passed old, old, cement buildings/structure, some half demolished, or perhaps halfway constructed, depending on how you view it.... All were very much still current housing I was soon to realize with the people milling around...From what i saw of the farms, farming was still a very manual process...very manual.... Though i couldn't determine what was being farmed... Everything was brown and dry, as it is still very cold in these parts...
We requested a bathroom stop.....i am beginning to notice the entrances to a lot of buildings having a plastic curtain layer, of course cut in strips...not sure what that's about.... Little did i know i was about to embark on my first real chinese adventure.....the standing toilet! ...Yaaaahhh.... though clean, i think it left a permanenet imprint in my brain...Oh....yes, do walk with your own toilet paper...evidently, that's a luxury item here....
Food..... but when i looked in the fridge of the restaurant to see all the dishes on display, all raw food, mostly seafood that sure wasn't sight appealing, I opted for my hot cheetos and left over bun and cheese in my suitcase... Of course Jaimey wasn't too thrilled that we needed to rummage through the suitcases in the back to get to mine...lol...
Next stop, DanDong...For my jamaican friends, just imagine driving through Cornation Market....and u get the picture of the town... Philly friends... picture 9th street.... All my other friends...uummmmmh.... picture roadside vendors sitting on the streets selling every and anything.... crocus bags on the street with potatoes, fruits, beans...and yes, some of the stuff spills onto the actual asphalt...Then there's people on bicycles, which huge cargoes on the back or front depending on where the basket is....ah..and sometimes the bicycles double as taxis... not to mention the 3 wheeled baby cars...one wheel in the front and two in the back....and everything is super old......
We checked in at the Crown hotel... suprisingly modern contemporary structure in this old town... My room overlooks the sea..pretty cool view...
Lunch was Korean style... we had a room to our selves....Sky ordered for the group....and asked for a fork for me...What, they don't have forks??? Great, here comes the chopstick lessons...Paulette sure isn't catching on, so this is going to be a painful meal... one by one the meat dishes rolled in, and was placed on the lazy susan glass centerpiece in the table... u just rolled it till the dish you want is in front of you... everyone is chomping down like crazy, while i just look around... after 5 mins, they are like, are you ok? u going to eat? ...uuummmmh..... time to be brave.... i finally tried the stir fried looking vegetables in the super rich sauce... why it is ice cold? Man, that sure is false advertising.... Ah.... pork...that might be worthwhile... it was, except for the hughe pieces of fat that was cut up and cooked instead of being discarded.... the jamaican style looking fish complete with head and tail was very appealing..except i couldn't get over how much it looked like salt mackerel and noone knew what it was...lol.....By now, i am sure my group feels my torture, so Sky goes and comes back with a spoon...sorry...a serving spoon....and hands it to me.. Oooook.... that's huge! So i struggled some more with th chopsticks....
I am finally getting some portions of rice and pork on the stick, when the door opens, i look up and the server has a squid tangled with seaweed on a plate!! Yikes....the uncontrollable gagging starts and the group is frozen... Someone quickly pulls a chair, and places it on it...out of sight...Crap... didn't mean to ruin lunch for the group....
Lunch is over, and Sky prods me to go to the bathroom, as we are looking at a 2 hour hike. Is it another stand up toilet? No, no...it's a real one...Smiling, i skip over the workers rummaging through the left overs on the plates on the floor, and putting stuff in basins...i don't even want to know what that was all about...the stall opens and i step in.... Arghhhh! another hole in the ground....I am sooo ready to go back to Dalian....
On the way to the hiking trail, Sky tells me they are going to seafood for dinner, and they might have squid again, so perhaps i have dinner in the hotel? I muster up enough courage and says oh no, i will have dinner with you guys....
Guided by the Nav, and few stops for directions, we spiral through the mountains and dirt road (am i driving in Jamaica?) and finally arrive at our destination... It's $60RNB (little less than $10 US) to go hiking...As they are paying, i am realizing, despite my 3 tops and a jacket, i am still freezing, especially my legs, so i think i am going to sleep in the car... the driver agrees, so we two spent the next 3 hours sleeping in the car..freezing no doubt.... In between rounds of sleep, i watch 3 workers build a station of more 'toilets'...It's pitchblack now...where r they? Are they lost? I am popsicle frozen...and want to go home....is that an orange jacket? Yeeeahh! Finally, we can leave...What is that Steve has for me? Snow?? This is crazy!!!....
The question of dinner comes up again...screw team spirit...take me back to the hotel.... Steve offers to bring me back shrimp, if they have it, and if it's cooked in an american looking sauce.... Hours later, there's a knock on my door...Steve tells me we are leaving by 8:30 in the morning....he doesn't mention shrimp and i don't ask...as he turns to walk away...he says ' You made a good choice for dinner.. '....
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